“I write in my journal everyday.”
“Why’s that?”
“So much happens in life, I think it’s good to live it again and get some distance from it. Or else everything is in a muddle, like on a merry-go-round.”

That quote made me realize it was time to take a step back from a busy month, to get some distance from all this craziness, and write it out. So here it goes.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a huge fan of summer – it’s the humidity, mostly – but this one was (or has been, since it’s technically still summer) really wonderful. August was by far the busiest month of the summer.

It started with a family vacation to Disney World. My little sister, Beth, is the perfect age for Disney – still young enough to think collecting character autographs is cool, but old enough to ride all the best roller coasters. My parents like it because you always know what you’ll get with Disney vacations. There’s something to make everybody happy. Every family is susceptible to the occasional meltdown (Beth gave custom names to each family’s meltdowns, according to the first letters of our names – if I was starting to lose it, I was having a “Peltdown”), but for the most part, you’ll all leave happy.

And we did. Over the course of five days, we made it to all four parks and one water park. There was a nice balance of attacking the parks, checking all the rides and attractions off our list, and relaxing. I abandoned my family for one afternoon and spent it reading poolside, speeding through the excellent “Rules of Civility.” Thanks for the vacay, mom and dad.

About a week after returning from Florida, my sister Hope, who interned at the Wall Street Journal this summer, left NYC and headed back to West Point. I was sad to see her go since we had an awesome summer together, but I’m always comforted by the fact that she’s still only 50 miles away from me. We spent a good deal of time this summer at the movies; neither of us is a movie buff by any means, but we like to see anything with Oscar buzz. Our final movie together this summer was “Fruitvale Station.” Heavy subject matter, no doubt, but a well-acted, well-told, and powerful story. I highly recommend. (Our other summer favorite was “The Way Way Back.”)

In the middle of August, I moved. Let me tell you: Moving in New York City is no joke. Like, seriously stressful. I’m still in Sunnyside, Queens, within walking distance of my old apartment, and I didn’t do myself any favors by gradually moving out of the old and into the new. (My leases overlapped for a couple weeks.) I hired movers to handle the big stuff like my bed and bookshelf, but left some out some smaller items. If you’re ever moving in New York, NEVER do this. Say good riddance to the old place. Just do it all in one fell swoop. I still don’t feel completely moved in to my new place, but I’m so, so glad to be out of the old one. It’s funny how simply walking out a different door in the morning can change your entire outlook; it’s a small but meaningful shift in perspective. Pretty soon, this change of pace will feel like the routine, but it hit me during the moving process that this is my first big change-within-a-change. I’ve been in New York long enough to experience a major transition within the major transition of moving here in the first place. That feels strange, but rewarding, in a way. I never want to be at a place in my life where I’m unwilling to let changes – big and small – reshape my outlook.

Other August things: Everyone at work is back from their summer hiatus! Most of the show’s production staff take a six-ish week summer hiatus, but in publicity, we work year-round. I did enjoy the slow pace of summer, but it feels like the office has returned to normal now that all my loud, collaborative, pop-culture-crazed co-workers have returned. So here’s my plug: Season 8 of Rachael Ray started taping this week and the season premieres Monday, September 16. Check it out.

Also, there is real, live COLLEGE FOOTBALL. I woke up last Saturday, turned on College GameDay, and the first thing I saw was radio host/SEC troll/new GameDay contributor Paul Finebaum saying, “I think Gene Chizik is the worst coach to ever win a National Championship.” Go Ducks.

September is off to a pretty good start: I went to my first Red Sox-Yankees game last night, and a steady stream of family and friends will be in New York for various reasons over the next few weeks. Summer, thanks for the memories. I’m ready for the new season.

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There is no tired like red-eye jet-lag tired. Holy cow. Actually, new-parent tired is probably way worse, but of all the tireds I have experienced, this PDX–>JFK variety takes the cake.

While I’m tired in this moment, I’m really feeling refreshed after a four-day visit to Portland for 4th of July weekend. It was planned pretty last-minute, and I flew out after work on Wednesday.

Brief aside: One of the best “cheating the New York system” feelings comes from taking the subway to the airport. Yes, I paid an arm and a leg for a cab ride home from the airport this morning – I love the subway but there’s no way I’m riding it at 5:30 a.m. after having been on a plane all night – but getting all the way from Chelsea to JFK for $8ish when you include the cost of the AirTrain? One of the city’s best bargains.

Anyway, we (meaning my sister Hope and me; see below for more on why she’s in the city this summer) arrived late Wednesday night and got our first glimpse at the Landsem family’s new home in West Linn. My parents moved from Tualatin in May, and despite my lack of familiarity with the floor plan, I have to admit it’s a cool house, complete with a huge backyard that provides ample roaming space for the dog who may have kind of started to like me.

For as long as I can remember, we’ve spent our Independence Days at our cousins’ house in the Columbia River Gorge among grandparents, aunts, uncles and other friends, setting off our own fireworks in their driveway and enjoying a bigger show over the river, put on by the city of Cascade Locks. I talk a pretty good “city girl” game, but spending the day in view of the river, trees and mountains reminded me that there’s nothing quite like the natural beauty of the Northwest.

More visits with family and friends filled the weekend, and they not only afforded me opportunities to see some of my best friends from college; they also gave me the chance to drive all over Portland to see them in various locales: downtown, the Rose Garden (as in flowers, not Blazers), Pittock Mansion, the Eastbank Esplanade and of course, that great bastian of suburbia, Bridgeport Village. I love driving and never get to do it in New York. Jetting across town to see some of my favorite people at some of my favorite places, all while driving with the windows down and blasting my rediscovered Switchfoot mixes from high school (don’t judge) was a serious treat.

It can be tough to live 3,000 miles away from most of the people with whom I shared my college years. While I’ve made amazing friends in New York – honestly, every day I count my blessings with regards to the community I’ve found here, and know many of those people will be lifelong friends – there’s a slightly deeper comfort zone with the people who knew you before you started out on the post-college journey. This past weekend, they challenged me (in a good way) with regards to how I like New York, where I see myself in a few years, whether I would move back to Portland and how I’m doing personally and spiritually. I was probably in a reflective mood anyway, since the visit came around the same time as my one-year anniversary of living in New York (June 18) and my birthday (July 1), but I loved seeing how the last year had taken us all down different paths but hadn’t changed the relationship we had. I am blessed to have them.

New York is a singular city. No other place holds the same level of excitement and intensity, but this weekend reminded me how important it is to take a breather every now and then. Recharging in the company of family, friends and Portland was good for the soul.

*Since I haven’t written in awhile, I have to do a quick speed round of awesome NYC happenings from the last month or so:

SUNSHINE. And as a result, perfect afternoons and evenings outside at the Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria, the Skillman BBQ Crawl last month in my neighborhood, and the Top of the Standard Hotel in the Meatpacking district.

My sister Hope’s arrival in NYC for the summer. She’s interning at the Wall Street Journal, and even had an editorial published in the paper last week. A number of other friends – from Oregon and elsewhere – are also finding their way to the city this summer.

Lots and lots of Mets games.

Movie obsessions as of late: Joss Whedon’s black-and-white, Shakespeare-language-in-a-modern-setting staging of Much Ado About Nothing, which Hope and I loved. And, because I’ve had a Bill Murray obsession lately (for no particular reason, although I recently rediscovered Lost in Translation and have pretty much had it playing on a Netflix loop), I watched The Royal Tenenbaums on my flight to Portland. So I guess now I have a Gene Hackman obsession. I mean, come on.

That seems to be it for now. I can’t wait for the rest of summer in the city.